In 1842, the city of New Orleans prosecuted Father Bernard Permoli, a Catholic priest, for conducting an open casket funeral. A violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment? The Supreme Court said no: The protections in the Bill of Rights did not bind state and local governments.
Then in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment is ratified, and it incorporated the Bill of Rights against the states–or did it? On this episode, the failure of incorporation after Reconstruction.

Recent Episodes

September 26, 2023

Unpublished Opinions 2 | Justice Holmes Love Letters

It’s the second episode of Unpublished Opinions, a Short Circuit podcast. This time we’re once again joined by Institute for Justice attorney Anya Bidwell, but […]

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September 15, 2023

Short Circuit 289 | Property Rights FTW

We celebrate, and dig into, two victories for property rights this week—both in IJ cases! First, IJ’s Wesley Hottot discusses the Sixth Circuit’s opinion in […]

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